a mashup of my favorite topics and named after my favorite food. knitting, carfreedom, asian americanism, half-chineseness, more knitting, a little crochet, some life in china, lists, clothing. maybe a little running and yoga. and mashed potatoes.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

The year in knitting

Though I technically "learned" how to knit in 2001 (a friend from middle school taught me one day when we got together on a late summer day before my second year of college), I didn't do much, apart from a few ugly scarves, until one day in late 2009, when I picked up my needles and have barely been able to put them down since then.

Needles(s) to say (bah-doom ... ching!), most of the knitting techniques in my arsenal have been picked up in the past year. While I picked up the very basic skills at the end of last year (knitting in the round, ribbing, seed stitch, etc.), I'd say this year I've tried most of the techniques that an intermediate knitter should know:

I still have yet to try:-Intarsia-Double knitting-Three-color stranded knitting-Complicated lace -Complicated cables-Socks-Gloves

But most importantly I don't have the experience to be able to predict when something will work or won't, so much of my experimental knitting (i.e., when I try to stray from a pattern) is completely on a trial-and-error basis. And I definitely don't have the control over most of the above techniques to incorporate them into my own design, unfortunately.

And, with some nudging from a friend, I've expanded my crochet skills beyond single, double, and triple, but I'd still call myself a beginner crocheter. I'm afraid to try any of those complex and lacy Doris Chan patterns, although I have a few in my Ravelry queue. I feel there's not a very clear "intermediate" level of crochet; the patterns seem to jump straight from easy to experienced.

2 comments:

I love to knit and I also love Ravelry. I'm now knitting the Multnomah shawl, so I checked out those on Ravelry who had knit it. Shock! Someone in Chengdu has knit a Multnomah. I've been to Chengdu several times; my husband worked there for two years at Aerotech. The most recent trip was last year. I love the city and its people. I live in a small town in Maine, so being transported to Chengdu was definitely a major culture shock, but everyone graciously helped me feel at ease. Oh, and the Multnomah is progressing well.